During the normal use of a record, such as a video disc record, the record itself is directly handled by the user in several operations: for example, in order to (1) transfer the record from the package to the player and vice versa, (2) to turn over the record to play the other side thereof, et al.
Typically, the record is handled by the user by grasping substantially opposite portions of the outer periphery of the record by his two hands. The abovesaid handling is relatively inconvenient. Additionally, there is a danger of accidentally dropping the record because two hands are involved. Therefore, it is advantageous to provide means which allow the user to handle the record conveniently and with one hand.
Further, since the normal tendency of human fingers is to curl inward toward the palm of the hand, the abovesaid handling creates a risk of touching the critical (i.e., recorded) region of the record, with the danger of consequent marring of the surface of the recorded region with fingerprints. The fingerprints can cause a short and a long term chemical and physical degradation of the recorded information. Therefore, it is desirable to provide means for precluding the touching of the recorded region of the disc record during the proper handling thereof.
A variety of approaches to record handling exist in the prior art. For example, finger holes have been provided in the record label area (the unrecorded region between the recorded portion and the centering aperture of the record). This and other similar approaches suffer from one or more practical deficiencies; for example, there is no assurance that the user would pick up the record by grasping the finger holes and not the outer periphery of the record.